Ten finalists have been announced in the search to find best practice in
their public reporting and accountability arrangements.

The competition has been organised by CIPFA and PricewaterhouseCoopers
to recognise and promote best practice across the public services.

The emphasis is on how the organisation accounts for the whole of its
activities to its public; how it gets across what it is there for and
what value it brings to the community; how it provides information in a
format and style which encourages real public interest in its work.

The organisers say that strong public accountability is a vital
ingredient of good corporate governance – and goes far beyond election
manifestos or a set of annual accounts.

It’s a definition that takes accountability firmly into the realms of
communications specialists – requiring the provision of clear, timely
information about what the organisation has been doing and what it plans
to do, and real two-way engagement with stakeholders. If organisations
fail to engage the interest of the public and other groups then they
fail to achieve full accountability.

The finalists are Scottish Enterprise Forth Valley, Testway Housing,
Addenbrooke’s NHS Trust, Leeds City Council, Leeds Community and Mental
Health Trust, ACAS, Companies House, HM Land Registry, The British
Library and The Environment Agency.

The winners will be announced at an award ceremony taking place on 11
June at the Hilton Brighton Metropole.

Link: www.cipfa.org.uk/accountability